Revolt: Nick Clegg's plans to reform the House of Lords are being threatened by a group of Tory backbenchers

Rebel Conservative MPs are threatening the biggest revolt in the party’s history over Nick Clegg’s plans to replace the House of Lords with a mainly elected second chamber.

A group of about 100 backbenchers, nicknaming themselves ‘The Sensibles’, are vowing to vote down the proposals, warning they will not hand the Liberal Democrats the balance of power in a reformed upper house in perpetuity.

Downing Street sources concede they are expecting ‘blood on the walls, floor and ceiling’ over legislation which threatens to put Coalition relations under unprecedented strain.

Several parliamentary private
secretaries, the most junior members of the Government, are considering
resigning rather than voting in favour.

David Cameron insisted yesterday it was ‘time to make progress’ over bringing democracy to Parliament’s second chamber.

The
Government published plans for an 80 per cent elected upper house, with
membership cut from 800 to 450.

Elections will be held alongside
general elections to the Commons, with the first in 2015.

Members will be elected in tranches of 120 at each of the next three elections, with the process of change completed by 2025.

They would serve a single 15-year term, and represent large, multi-member regional constituencies.

Crucially
for the Lib Dems, they will be elected using a form of proportional
representation, which all but guarantees no party could ever hope for a
majority, meaning their influence will always be critical.

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Even
after it is reformed, the chamber will continue to be known as the
House of Lords – though its members will not be able to call themselves
‘Lord’.

After
suggestions they would be called senators, Members of the House of
Lords (MHLs) or Members of the Upper House (MUPs), Lord Strathclyde, the
Tory leader of the House of Lords said: ‘We are not calling them
senators at the moment – we are not actually calling them anything.’

Mr Cameron told MPs: ‘We have been discussing this issue for 100 years and it really is time to make progress.

There
are opponents of Lords reform in every party. But there is a majority
in this House for a mainly-elected House of Lords and I believe there’s a
majority for that in the country.

The
Prime Minister attacked Labour leader Ed Miliband as ‘hopeless’ for
saying he backed the reforms, but indicating Labour would vote against
on the basis that more time should be allowed to debate the legislation.

The
Tories sent two ‘big beasts’ – Foreign Secretary William Hague and
Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke – onto the airwaves to try to rally
Tory support for the plans.

However, Mr Clarke conceded there was
disagreement on almost every aspect of the Bill. He said: ‘There isn’t a
solid majority on almost any detail – bishops, electoral system.’

‘It
cannot be right that ordinary, hard-working people are expected to obey
laws that are created by people appointed entirely by birth or
patronage, who have a generous pay packet and a job for life. The time
for idle talk is finished. Now is the time for action.’

Big beasts: Foreign Secretary William Hague and Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke have been tasked with trying to rally Tory support for the plans

But Tory MP Conor Burns, parliamentary private secretary to Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson, said he would join the Tory revolt even if he had to resign.

Tory MP Andrew Rosindell added: ‘I didn’t get elected as a Tory MP to throw Margaret Thatcher out of the British parliament.’

Fellow Conservative Jesse Norman said the plans would mean that in Wales, every voter would have six elected politicians: their councillor, a local member of the Welsh Assembly, a list member of the Assembly, an MP, an MEP and a Senator.

He said the Bill was a ‘total nonsense’ and he would ‘absolutely without any question’ vote against it.

Sources close to the Prime Minister, who used to refer to Lords reform disparagingly as a ‘third term issue’ denied Conservative MPs were being given ‘a nod and a wink’ that they could rebel over Lords reform without suffering consequences.

But one senior MP said when he told a party whip in charge of discipline that he intended to vote against, he was told: ‘Good.’